In what may, or may not be a dubious distinction, Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk claims to be the fastest pianist alive. As reported in The Telegraph, he doesn't claim to be the best or most creative pianist, just the fastest, clocking in at 19.5 notes per second, transcending ordinary boundaries of time and space. He calls what he does "continuous music," and says it's the first innovation in piano playing in three centuries. Melnyk also compares the way he uses his body to play such a fast and continuous stream of music to the way a Kung Fu master moves and uses his energy. You be the judge:
It is a hypnotically beautiful flow of music and I must say, I do enjoy it. It does seem though, to have strong antecedents in the minimalist school of composition. Going back a few years, here's Part 1 of Terry Riley's In C:
By the time you get to Part 3 of In C, things are really moving along at a good clip, but I think you get the point. Of course, Steve Reich and Philip Glass and a whole host of other composers and performers are working in a related mode outside the conventional notions of theme and development from Western classical music. I find some of what Lubomyr Melnyk says about his music and way of playing fascinating. It would be too easy to just be cynical, calling it "New Age" fluff. There does seem to be genuine musical ability involved, and he does have a definite, if unusual rationale for what he does. Some of it might be very good as a form of music therapy. Perhaps concert pianists struggling with fear of making mistakes in complex passages in the standard repertoire would benefit from the kind of unifying energy of the body and mind described by Melnyk in the article. It sounds like an intriguing idea anyway. For some, it might all sound too mystical and out-of-this-world, but it's hard to argue against more harmony and beauty-- may the Force be with him.